Advent Calendar Day 21: O Come, O Come Emmanuel

This song is old, far older than most of the other musical trappings of the season, and far more solemn. The English words come from the 19th century, but they’re a translation from the medieval Latin, and the music is not less than five centuries old. An Advent hymn, it’s a cry for deliverance from those in darkness.

We have heard the prophecy of salvation, redemption from captivity, and we believe it, but nothing is certain save that here and now we’re in darkness, beset on all sides, exiles in the night. And so we cry out for our redeemer.